Wednesday, 31 May 2017

JAMES TORRENS JP (1816-1884), of Edenmore, County Antrim, second son of JOHN TORRENS, of Clough (or Clogh), County Antrim, married, in 1848, Sarah Hughes (daughter of Samuel Gelston JP, of Rosstulla, County Antrim, and Eliza his wife, daughter of Thomas Hughes, and had issue,

JOHN;Thomas Hughes (1851-1928), of Edenmore, DL, High Sheriff, 1903.

The elder son,

JOHN TORRENS JP (1849-1908), of Rosstulla, wedded, in 1876, Florence, daughter of Robert Stewart Lepper JP, of Trainfield House, Belfast, and had issue,

JAMES ROBERT;Florence Muriel (1881-93);EILEEN, of whom hereafter.

Mr John Torrens' only son,JAMES ROBERT TORRENS (1877-1921), Captain, 4th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, espoused, in 1902, Enid Maude (whom he divorced in 1908), daughter of the Hon William Forster, Agent-General of New South Wales, and had issue, JOHN BASIL HUGHES TORRENS (1902-).

*****

The younger daughter of James Torrens,EILEEN TORRENS (1886-1983), married, in 1911, Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Frederick Spence (1880-1937), Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), who changed his name by deed poll to TORRENS-SPENCE, 1928, and had issue,

Captain Torrens-Spence succeeded Sir Norman Stronge as Lord-Lieutenant of County Armagh (1981-89) following Sir Norman's heinous murder with his son James at Tynan Abbey (my father and I attended their funeral at Tynan parish church).

He married, in 1944, Rachel Nora, eldest daughter of Edward Stanley Clarke, of Ballyauglis Lodge, County Antrim, and had issue,

EDENMORE HOUSE, Whiteabbey, County Antrim, was built in the Italianate style ca 1865 for James Torrens (1796-1884), a prosperous solicitor and land agent for the Donegall and Shaftesbury Irish estates.

The mansion was likely designed for Mr Torrens by the architects Lanyon, Lynn & Lanyon.

There were two gate lodges, long since demolished.

It remained the Torrens residence for 63 years years, until the death of James Torrens's son, Thomas Hughes Torrens (1851-1928).

Following his decease, Edenmore became the quarters of Edenmore Veterinary Hospital under the patronage of the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

In 1950, the house and demesne were adapted as RAF Edenmore, a base for No. 67 NI Reserve Group and No. 3502 (Ulster) Fighter Control Group.

Edenmore opened as a hotel from 1963 until the mid-1980s.

Its principal function rooms were named Eden, Torrens and Shaftesbury.

Her ladyship greatly enlarged Hollymount House, building a new Georgian-style wing in front of the old house, now ruinous.

In 1838, Lady Harriet sponsored the construction of Hollymount Church; and in 1841 arranged for the construction of a new house on her estate, Drumcullen, as a residence for the Rector of the new church.

In 1853, she enlarged the house after a design by Charles Lanyon for herself and her nephew, the Rev Pierce Butler, Rector of Hollymount, 1852-56.

Later residents of Drumcullen House included the Rev F H Hall, William Russell, a solicitor in Downpatrick and Portaferry, the Whitesides and the Galways, from whom Captain Torrens-Spence bought the property ca 1948.

The estate comprises 113 acres including the house, garden, farmyard and woodland.

103 acres have been let on a con-acre basis to the same tenants for about 20 years.

There are farm buildings, including stables and three Dutch barns (recently re-roofed).

The property has recently been sold, following the death in 2017 of Mrs Rachel Torrens-Spence.

9, Wellington Place, Belfast

9, WELLINGTON PLACE, BELFAST, a red-brick Georgian townhouse of four storeys, was built ca 1830.

The premises were purchased outright in 1860 by Richard Davison and James Torrens, who were recorded as occupants in that year.

Davison and Torrens were solicitors who established an office at 9, Wellington Place, but also had a branch at 65, Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin.

Davison and Torrens continued to operate from their Wellington Place offices until the 1920s.

They also conducted business as estate agents and principally administered the estate of the Earl of Shaftesbury.

In 1910, Thomas Hughes Torrens was recorded as Lord Shaftesbury's agent.

The solicitors continued to operate from the address in 1918; however, by that time the firm had changed its name to Torrens & Bristow, when John Bristow took over as partner from Davison.

Tuesday, 30 May 2017

The coronet of an earl is a silver-gilt circlet with eight strawberry leaves alternating with eight silver balls (known as pearls) on raised spikes.

The coronet itself is chased as if in the form of jewels (like a royal crown) but is not actually jewelled.

It has a crimson cap (lined ermine) in real life and a purple one in heraldic representation.

there is a gold tassel on top.

The raised pearls on spikes distinguish it from other coronets.

It has also been described thus,

This coronet, which is one of the most striking, has, rising from a golden circlet, eight lofty rays of gold, each of which upon its point supports a small pearl, while between each pair of rays is a conventional leaf, the stalks of these leaves being connected with the rays and with each other so as to form a continuous wreath.

The coronet of a countess (below) is smaller in size and sits directly on top of the head, rather than around it.

Earls rank in the third degree of the hereditary peerage, being next below a marquess, and next above a viscount.First published in June, 2010.

They were the landowners and presented Inch Abbey to the state in 1910.

Thence I jumped into the two-seater and made my jolly way in a south-easterly direction, over the river, to the historic town of Downpatrick.

Down Cathedral stands proudly to the extreme west of the town, overlooking Inch Abbey across the Quoile.

I made a bee-line for Down County Museum, which is located in the historic buildings of the former County Gaol of Down.

The Gaol was opened in 1796 until its closure in 1830, when it became a military barracks.

I ambled up the hill to the cathedral.

The cathedral's graveyard lies directly opposite the west front.

The most commanding vault, almost like a little chapel itself, boasts stone pinnacles (larger versions of which adorn the cathedral) and stands at a corner of the graveyard directly overlooking the cathedral's west front.

It has an inscription in capital letters, viz. HASTINGS.

A black cat was sleeping on a grave further along.

Any reader who knows me shall be aware that I never pass a cat without greeting it cordially, and this occasion happened to be no exception.

In fact I persevered and at length my feline devotee was roused and befriended me; to the extent that it followed me into a field and up to the threshold of the cathedral.

Incidentally, the Perceval-Maxwells, like many other landed families of County Down, were patrons of Down Cathedral.

Their armorial bearings are resplendent on large, carved, colourful plaques along the walls of the nave.

Thereafter I motored in a south-westerly direction towards the townland of Ballydugan, a truly heavenly spot in the county.

Ballydugan is a hop, skip and jump away from Downpatrick; yet you are struck by its tranquillity and "olde worlde" charm.

A cursory glance at the map shall indicate that we are within riding-distance of Downpatrick Racecourse.

Friday, 26 May 2017

The Duke of Edinburgh, Patron, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, attended Receptions at Hillsborough Castle, County Down, on Thursday, 25th May, 2017, for young people who have achieved the Gold Standard in the Award.

His Royal Highness was received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast (Mrs. Fionnuala Jay-O'Boyle CBE).

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Lord John George de la Poer Beresford (1773-1862), Lord Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, possessing great wealth, was known for his considerable largesse.

His patronage extended largely to Trinity College, Dublin; to the College of Saint Columba; and he restored Armagh Cathedral, at a cost of £30,000.

Furthermore, His Grace augmented the salaries of his clergy.

The bust of this distinguished prelate stands in the private chapel at Curraghmore, County Waterford.

He is interred in Armagh Cathedral.

The Archbishop bequeathed his County Cavan estate to Lord Charles Beresford.

Learmount Castle in County Londonderry, belonged to the same family through marriage.

First published in May, 2013. Beresford arms courtesy of European Heraldry.

HENRY BRUEN (1856-1927), of Oak Park, and Coolbawn, Lieutenant, Royal Artillery, High Sheriff of Carlow, 1886, and of Wexford, 1909, who wedded, in 1886, Agnes Mary, youngest daughter of the Rt Hon Arthur M Kavanagh, of Borris, County Carlow, and had issue,

GLADYS PATRICIA BREUN (1914-), of Oak Park, who wedded, in 1939, Mervyn Anthony Arthur Rudyerd Boyse, son of Major Henry Thomas Arthur Shapland Hunt Boyse. They had four sons.She lived in 1976 at Maryvale, Church Road, Ballybrack, County Dublin.

OAK PARK, near Carlow town, is a large Victorian classical house by W V Morrison.

It has two storeys, the entrance front having a five-bay central block with a pedimented portico of four huge Ionic columns.The main block is prolonged by wings of the same height, initially set back though returning forwards with Wyatt windows at their ends.

The garden front of thirteen bays is duller in appearance.

The interior has splendid plasterwork in the style of Morrison; while the Hall boasts giant, free-standing Ionic columns.

Part of the former Oak Park estate, once the home of the Bruen Family, from 1775 to 1957, is now the 127 acre Oak Park Forest Park.

The Oak Park demesne was bought by Colonel Henry Bruen in 1775, after making his fortune in the American Army.

He was the grandson of James Bruen, of Tarvin, Cheshire, who came to Ireland with Oliver Cromwell and received land at Abbeyboyle, County Roscommon.

The Bruens intermarried with the County Mayo families, Knox of Rappa and Ruttledge of Bloomfield.

HMS Drake, the wreck of which lies at Church Bay, Rathlin Island, was torpedoed in 1917. One of her Captains was Edward Bruen, son of the MP. He was Captain when the ship was flagship on the Australian station circa 1912/13.The Senior Naval Officer in Australia at the time was Admiral King-Hall (Admiral Sir George Fowler King-Hall KCB CVO) who had a very strong Ulster connection. Captain Edward Bruen RN was married to Olga Ker, one of the Montalto and Portavo family.Captain Bruen later went on to command HMS Bellerophon at the Battle of Jutland.

The Bruen estate was mainly in the counties of Carlow and Wexford where they had houses at Oakpark in Carlow and at Coolbawn, Enniscorthy.

Francis Bruen was married to Catherine Anne Nugent, daughter of the Earl of Westmeath.

Three townlands in the barony of Athenry were offered for sale in the Landed Estates court in 1866.All this land gave the Bruen family political power and, in 1790, Henry Bruen was returned to Parliament, winning the seat of a neighbouring family, the Butlers.However, the Butlers reclaimed their seat five years later with the sudden death of the Colonel in December, 1795.

This allowed his son, also called Henry, to assume control of the estate.The Bruen estate in County Galway amounted to over 700 acres in the 1870s but was part of an estate of almost 25,000 acres in total.

Manuscripts in the Irish Genealogical Office would suggest that the family held lands at Boyle, County Roscommon, in the 18th century.

These lands seem to have been at the centre of a legal case between the Bruen family and Richard St George.Henry Bruen attended Harrow School alongside the poet Lord Byron and Robert Peel, with whom he would later serve as a Conservative MP.

Peel was Home Secretary at the time of Catholic Emancipation, a Bill which Henry Bruen supported.Bruen quickly amassed the land surrounding Oak Park.

In 1841, a survey of every Bruen farm revealed that the family's estates in County Carlow covered 20,089 acres.In the 1841 election, Henry defeated the Liberal candidate, Daniel O'Connell, Jnr., son of “The Liberator”.

However, the Bruen hold on the seat lapsed with the death of Henry in 1852; but his son, also confusingly called Henry, returned to the House of Commons in 1857 and held his seat until 1880, which marked the end of the family's 90-year history of political involvement over three generations.

The current mansion house at Oak Park is the result of four periods of expansion and remodelling carried out between 1797 and 1902.

Twenty-two years after he arrived, Henry employed Michael Boylan to redecorate the house.In 1832, the second Henry Bruen commissioned William Morrison to re-model the house and in 1876 Samuel Bolton, a builder, signed a contract for a major extension, which took three years to complete.However, on 22nd February, 1902, the house was gutted by fire.

After eight hours of fighting the blaze, all that remained was the north wing. Fortunately, a large number of paintings, furniture and books were saved by the workers.The house was rebuilt under the supervision of William Mitchell.The last male Bruen, the fifth Henry, died in 1954.

By then, the estate had reduced in size to a relatively small 1,500 acres.

He left nothing to his estranged daughter Gladys, who had several years earlier marriedPrince Milo of Montenegro.The remainder of the estate was bequeathed to a cousin in England, minus a weekly income for life of £6 to his daughter, Patricia.In 1957, the estate was purchased at auction for £50,555 by Brownes Hill Estates, who already owned the nearby estate in which a Norfolk farmer was principal partner.

However, within three years the property was back on the market after fierce protest from smaller farmers in opposition to the purchase by the Norfolk farmer.The estate was bought by the Irish Land Commission for £68,000, and seven hundred acres were divided up among small holders, while the house and the remaining land were taken over as a research centre for the Irish Agricultural Institute (Teagasc).The last member of the Bruen family to be buried in the family's private burial ground at the Mausoleum was Gladys, the estranged wife of Henry (d 1969).

First published in April, 2011.I am grateful to Henry Woods and Robert Power for most of the information; further reading about the Bruens and Oak Park can be read here.

Sunday, 21 May 2017

THE KEMMIS FAMILY WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY WICKLOW, WITH 8,041 ACRES

WILLIAM KEMMIS (1777-1864), of Ballinacor, County Wicklow, and Killeen, Queen's County, Crown and Treasury Solicitor for Ireland (seeKEMMISof Shaen), espoused, in 1805, Ellen, second daughter of Nicholas Southcote Mansergh JP, of Greenane, County Tipperary, and had issue,

WILLIAM GILBERT;Thomas;George (Rev);Richard;James;Elizabeth.

Mr Kemmis was succeeded by his son,

WILLIAM GILBERT KEMMIS JP DL (1806-81), of Ballinacor and Ballycarroll, who died unmarried, when he was succeeded by his nephew,

COLONEL WILLIAM KEMMIS JP DL (1836-1900), of Ballinacor and Ballycarroll, Royal Artillery, who wedded, in 1862, Ellen Gertrude de Horne Christy, eldest daughter of George Steinman Steinman, FSA, of Sundridge, Kent, and left issue,

The coronet of the Prince of Wales, or, more properly, the demi-crown of the Heir Apparent to the throne is composed of a circle of gold; on the edge, four crosses patée, between as many fleurs-de-lis; from the two centre crosses, an arch, surmounted with a mound and cross, the whole richly chased and adorned with pearls; within the coronet, a crimson cap, lined with white sarsnet, and turned up with ermine.

The original coronet of this design forms part of the crown jewels exhibited at the Tower of London.The royal coronet made for Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1728, is a golden diadem, the band decorated with embossed jewel-like lozenges and ovals with foliate surrounds, on a matted ground, between rows of gold pearls.

Above the band are four gold crosses-pattée and four fleurs-de-lis, partly matted and chased.

The single arch dips deeply in the centre and supports a monde with gold pearls and a cross above, fitted with a purple velvet cap and ermine band.

The Investiture Coronet of the present Prince of Wales was designed by the architect and goldsmith Louis Osman (1914-96) and given to HM The Queen by the Goldsmith’s Company for His Royal Highness's Investiture at Carnarvon Castle, 1969.

It is 24 carat gold, with four crosses-pattée and four fleur-de-Lys made from a nugget of Welsh gold, reinforced with platinum and decorated with diamonds and emeralds. The orb mounted on the top of the arch was engraved by Malcolm Appleby with The Prince of Wales’s insignia.

This is surrounded by thirteen diamonds arranged as the constellation of Scorpio, The Prince of Wales’s star sign. The diamonds set horizontally represent the seven Gifts of God on one side and the seven deadly sins on the other.

BELMONT TOWER, as it is now known, is a two-storey five-bay former schoolhouse situated at the corner of Belmont Road and Belmont Church Road, Belfast.

The building was constructed between 1889 and 1892.

Before 1889, Belmont Primary School had been located in the grounds of Belmont Presbyterian Church, in a schoolhouse first opened in 1863.

The school continued to meet at the church site for over 25 years until the erection of the present building.

The architect of the new school was Vincent Craig (1869-1925), a local architect who was articled to W H Lynn between 1885-89, and who was the younger brother of the Rt Hon Sir James Craig Bt (the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland).

Belmont Primary School was built in the Gothic-Revival style, and locally quarried Scrabo sandstone was used in the masonry of the building with Locharbriggs sandstone as a secondary material.

The construction of the school was undertaken by the local building firm of Dixon & Campbell.

Belmont Primary School is said to have been erected in memory of Mrs Mary Ferguson, of Sydenham House.

Following her death in 1888, Mrs Ferguson's widower, Robert Ferguson, donated £1,000 to the Belmont Presbyterian Church Committee in order to ‘build and furnish a school and enclose the ground as a memorial to my dear wife and to be named as such.’

The school was originally known as The Ferguson Memorial School and was administered under the state-managed National School System until after the partition of Ireland in 1922.

The Belmont Tower website states that the old school was originally divided between its two storeys: the boy’s school occupied the ground floor; whilst the girls school utilised the upper floor of the building.

The southern extension of the school was added in 1910 by a local architect, Thomas Houston (1873-1938).

The Ferguson Memorial School continued to be administered by the National School System until partition.

In 1926, the school came under the auspices of Belfast Corporation’s Education Committee, and consequently the school was renamed Belmont Public Elementary School.

Belmont Public Elementary School was sold to the Belfast Education and Library Board in 1975 and was listed in the following year.

By 1994, the condition of the building had deteriorated to a point where Belfast City Council did not consider refurbishment to be economically viable, and the building was declared redundant in May, 1999.

Staff and pupils moved to a brand new school that was built in the grounds.

Nevertheless, local residents, many of whom were also parents of children at the school, were concerned for the future of the school building and established the Old Belmont School Preservation Trust in May, 2001.

The National Trust subsequently acquired the building.

Work began to restore the fabric and introduce 21st century facilities, for various community uses such as a pre-school play group, coffee shop, function and meeting rooms.

Belmont Tower was officially opened by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales in September, 2004.

Established in 2007. Writing about a wide variety of topics including the Monarchy, the Nobility, the Gentry, Heraldry, Pageantry, Heritage, Country Houses, the National Trust, Conservation, Brackenber House School, Food, Drink, Entertainment, Travel.